insult, but there were at least two months of pent-up anger in Dan's first punch. I admit I wasn't ready for it. It caught me square in the stomach.
You don't ever want to fight an emotionally distraught person, especially one who's in good physical shape. What they lose in coordination they gain in power and unpredictability. When he hit me I had to ignore the nausea and the instinct to double over in order to avoid a haymaker swing that would've caught me in the head.
I slid down under the punch on my left leg, a little awkwardly, and used my right leg to knock Dan off his feet with a sweep-kick. He didn't know to roll, so he fell on his back pretty hard.
I got up and backed away. My gut felt like a piece of sheet metal that was hardening as it cooled.
Dan scrambled up and started toward me. I held up my palms, offering a truce.
"This is stupid, Dan, " I said.
He tried one more punch but this time I was ready for it. I stepped out of the way and let him punch air. After that he just stood there for a minute, breathing heavily.
"God damn it," he said. "You got no right."
He turned and started back toward his car. From the way he walked, his lower back must've been in a lot of pain.
The windows of his BMW were tinted almost black, so it was only when Dan opened the door that I saw the older woman with bright gold hair sitting in the passenger seat. Her face rested in her left hand as if in total mortification. As the door slammed Dan was growling to her: "Don't start!"
Then he drove over half the Rodriguezes' front lawn and over the curb getting back on the street. The BMW swerved slowly down Acacia like a drunk shark. The Rodriguez brothers looked at me and grinned, raising their beer cans in a salute.
Lillian was in her bedroom, pretending to read.
"Just a little man-to-man talk?" she asked coldly. "Did you mark off your territory for him?"
"Lillian - " I started. I stopped, realizing I sounded like Dan had a few minutes before.
She threw down her magazine. "I don't like being told to go to my room while the big fellas fight it out, Tres."
"You're right. I shou1d've let you handle it."
"You think I couldn't have?"
No answer would've worked, so I didn't try one.
She got up and looked out the window. Finally, she walked over to me and put her arms around my waist. Her eyes were still angry.
"Look, Tres, this hasn't been a real great day for me. I think I need a hot bath and a night alone with a book."
"I love you, " I said.
She kissed me as lightly as you'd kiss a Bible.
"I think we should talk more tomorrow," she said quietly. "I don't want any more surprises from my past."
I closed the front door quietly on my way out.
Back at home, I checked my newly installed answering machine. Mother had called twice, upset that I hadn't given her a report yet on my first date with Lillian. Bob Langston had left a cryptic message threatening me with bodily harm and legal action.
I unwrapped the ceramic skeleton-driven car Lillian had given me and put it down on the carpet in front of Robert Johnson. He hissed at it, puffing up his tail as thick as a raccoon's, then walked backward into the closet, still staring at the new monstrosity.
Two days back home and I'd managed to mess up my fragile relationship with Lillian, aggravate my mother, traumatize my cat, and make at least three new enemies.
"Just about par," I told myself.
There was only one other thing I could possibly stir up to make myself feel worse. I called directory assistance and asked for Carl Kelley, retired deputy sheriff, my dead father's best friend.
Chapter 8
"I'll be damned," he said. "I never thought I'd hear from you again, son."
Years of smoking hadn't been kind to Carl Kelley's voice. Every word sounded like it was being scraped across a metal file as it left his throat.
Before I could tell him why I had called, he began a long gravelly sentence without periods, telling me about all the people he and my father had known who were now either dead, in the hospital, or afflicted in their old age with ungrateful children. I got the feeling Carl was living alone now and probably hadn't gotten a phone call in